More games ... and more guys to pick from

It's a busy week for the Sounders, with San Jose just a couple of days behind, DC United coming up Wednesday then then a cross-country trip for a game at New York on Saturday.

Fortunately for coach Sigi Schmid, the cluster of games comes at a time when his options have increased. No one is missing due to yellow- or red-card suspensions and the health of the team is improving.

"We're getting healthier, Schmid said after practice today at Starfire. "Obviously (Osvaldo) Alonso reappeared last Saturday, so that was good news for us as well. Zach Scott is training with us, but he's probably still not ready for this week because this is his first week of training. But we have more options. Nate (Jaqua) is back, and obviously (Jhon) Kennedy (Hurtado) is back as well. There's options that are there. We need some guys to play on Wednesday and we need some guys to play on Saturday.

... Alonso is a guy usually stays fairly fit. He doesn't get too unfit. Certain guys can roll out of bed and they can run all day. He's one of those guys. I thought it was good for him to get those 15 minutes that he got in on Saturday. And Stephen King has played very well and (Brad) Evans has played very well. But knowing we've got two games coming up here in four days, having three midfielders to choose from for those two positions is a good option to have. I'm not sure yet if we're going to start Alonso for Wednesday, or if we're going to start him for Saturday, but I definitely see him starting one of those two games."

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.